AI Traffic for Ford/HMs Peregrine

[hobby]

I have started on my AI traffic program for Ford/HMS Peregrine in Sea Hawk days and now have a Station Flight consisting of an incorrectly painted Chipmunk and the Yeovilton Station Flight Meteor T7.
I wonder what types of aircraft actually made up the station flight at ford between 1955-61?

Just now I am not too worried about the correct paintschemes- that can probanly be put right at a later date.

Does any forum member have a record of the types used at Ford?

Would the flight haver used a silver Anson or a Sea Devon or Pembroke/Prince as a means of carrying personnel to stranded aircraft away from base and ferrying spare parts for aircraft or ground equipment from the makers or perhaps a team to a meeting at HQ and return.

I realise that station flights had a varying number of aircraft but I thought that three might be sufficient to cover met flights,making up the hours for flying pay and general liasion, opinions and suggestions most welcome, especially from past RNAS members.

Other acft now in my Ford AI program - Hornet, Gannet (German), armed and unarmed Sea Venoms. Sea Hawks later.
Expect to see Canberras, Dakotas, French Corsairs and one or two others call into Ford.

[Trev Clark]

How about a visiting Signals Command Varsity from nearby Tangmere? Rick's has the correct scheme. Station flights of the FAA also used Rapides too. I wonder where we can get one of those? :roll:

[Seaking]

I did a little googling on this one found this, hope it helps

http://www.abpic.co.uk/search.php?q=RNA ... u=location

[hobby]

Many thanks Seaking. Not one Sea Hawk despite two Sea Hawk training units being based there.

AI coming along quite well, just a bit busy at present with real life!

[nazca_steve]

Hello James, good to hear things are progressing with populating Ford...one question I had though - would it be worth adding a few FAA Gannets alongside your German one?

[hobby]

Indeed AS4s are already there, but not AEW3s. One Gannet T2 was placed in the Station flight but is incorrectly coded at present and has now been moved down to the Gannet parking area along with the German Gannet which calls in every day from ETMN. The T2 will be found more relevant duties later next week.

[steve p]

Ford, mmmm...

Station flight:
Anson I Oct 44 - Aug 45 MG730 (804/FD)
Reliant Aug 45 - Dec 45 FK953
Sea Fury FB.11 Mar 52 Apr 52 VX655
Sea Fury T.20 Jul 50 - Feb 55 WE824 (902/FD)
Firebrand TF.5 Jul 51 EK737
Firefly T.1 Aug 51 - Aug 54 Z2027 (901/FD)
Meteor T.7 May 52 - Oct 53 WL332 (905/FD)
Attacker FB.2 Jul 52 - May 53 WA528
Dragonfly HR.3 Apr 53 - Jul 58 (982/FD)
Dragonfly HR.5 Sep 57 - Sep 58 (923/FD)
Sea Vampire T.22 May 54 - Jan 57 XA153 (923/FD)
Dominie Jun 56 - Feb 57 NF880
Gannet T.2 Nov 56 - Feb 58 XG880 (923/FD)
Sea Hawk FGA.6 Aug 57 - Sep 57 XE338

Details from the late Ray Sturtivant's essential reference work, Squadrons of the Fleet Air Arm.

Regarding other types that used Ford, if the FAA flew it in the 1950s, at least one carried a Ford code at some point. The list of aircraft carrying Ford codes is too large to reproduce here, but if you name some specific types, I should be able to help.

Best wishes
Steve P

[hobby]

Many thanks Steve P. Will contact you later in the week. Just shutting down. Bit of a shock seeing a Dominie(Rapide) on Station Flight in 1956!!

[hobby]

Working steadily away on the AI Traffic for Ford so here is is the story of the plan so far.

With help from a number of members I now have a working Ford airfield - still needs some work on the airfield itself but it is fully operational with one ILS runway and one other runway. The whole airfoield has been modelled from official RAF plans circa 1945. All in FS9 of course. All the hangars, blister and otherwise are in place with a standard fire appliance, ambulance and landrover in attendance.

The AI story at present is as follows:

Ford is a busy airfield with three resident RNVR units: two squadrons of Sea Hawks and one of Gannets. Also in residence is a Station Flight comprised of - one each of the following: Dominie,Sea Venom,Meteor T7, Chipmunk and Gannet T2.

There is also a resident Sea Venom Unit.

The daily flightplan begins with the departure of a Stn Flt Sea Venom to Chivenor to co-operate with the RAF who are still in residence, that acft will return to Ford at 11:36Hrs GMT departing to collect a foriegn exchange officer due to arrive at Manston at 15:00hrs, he is late so the acft returns home Ford at about quarter past four. Two minutes past seven sees the T7 leave for the morning Met Recce, after return the CO leaves in the T7 for Northolt to confer with senior officers and he gets back in time for afternoon tea at 15:36Hrs GMT.

At 08:00Hrs the Dominie pushes off to Yeovilto for some spares returning just after half past twelve, lunch over the Dominie makes its stately way to Coventry for more spares,tools etc ready for the first Sea Hawks expected in the next couple of weeks, back at Ford just after five to make life awkward for the stores personnel!!

The Chipmunk, being a favourite of the Senior Pilot at Ford keeps gentlemanly hours and leaves its parking space in front of the control tower at 11:00hrs GMT zooming down to Hurn for a hockey match returning to Ford after lunch for a daily outing up to White Waltham so that the SP can review the Gannet conversion training going on there.

The Station Flight Gannet T2 and crew are tasked to go to Eglinton (Londonderry) each day to converse with Gannet crews and NATO anti sub staff on tactics.

Moving to the operational side the Gannets have their own 'Gannet Corner' with lots of parking spots reserved for Gannets on Station and passing through from the fleet and foreign users. A German johnny arrives and departs each day from Nordholz and two of our Gannets go off to his airfield in company bringing home supplies of wine, sausages and bier just before 17:00hrs. Two other Gannet crews have a daily cross country and recce flight to perform their circular route taking them from Ford to Culdrose and West Freugh before returning before four o'clock.

The Gannet T2 roars off to Manston at 08:45hrs GMT before gpoing on to Marham for range practice off the Wash returning via Coventry at a quarter to three so that the instructor can get his debriefing done and push off to bell ringing practice with Miss Jones from the Post Office.

More warlike activities take place each day with two of our six Sea Venoms off for rocket practice at the Wash range while the other four are serviced from the previous night patrols over The Channel. Each of the four aircraft undertakes air tests either before or after lunch. The first armed aircraft departs for a singleton patrol over the Manston area at 18:00hrs GMT being relieved on station by the second North Foreland patrol aircraft at 20:30hrs. At 22:00 responsibility for that patrol passes to the RAF Meteor NF force.

The last two aircraft having conducted their own air tests are tasked with a Channel Islands Patrol undertaken as a singleton and relief with the first returning to Ford at about ten past eight tha second just after 21:00hrs.

Well that is what I now have working. Later I hope to operate an abundance of Sea Hawks, a couple of helicopters and some RAF, USAF, Dutch, German and French visitors (Canberras, Sabres, B57, C47, Sea Hawks and Corsairs)with the odd USN Banshee or Panther popping in.

Of course at present none of the Station Flight are correctly marked, I have no RN DRagonfly or Whirlwind, and the Gannets and Sea Venoms could do with correct colour schemes.

I shall take this opprtunity to once again thank all those who have helped to produce a working model of Ford airfield which could have a lot of additional manpower and equipment added but I am having to deal with aircraft converted to, but not designed as AI acft, so I hesitate to add 'candy' to decrease frame rates.

At present I should like to wait for Steve to be satisfied with his Sea Hawks before offering my Fs9 version of Ford complete with an AI traffic plan.

Comments and suggestions for posiible traffic would be welcomed. The time period is 1955 (Suez) to 1962.

By the way I discovered that the real Ford had a fully operational Mirror landing sight fitted up for practice approaches but I don't know which runway was involved.

[nazca_steve]

What a brilliant and entertaining story there, Hobby. Personally I can't wait to see this happy little scene in action, with plenty of screenshots. It sounds like it will be a busy old place, with lots of my old favourites running about. Now, about that bell-ringing practice with Miss Jones...

I think Armstrong Whitworth will be ready to deliver it's first Sea Hawks fairly soon, perhaps in the next few weeks, and certainly by early November. I can't guarantee all variants will be delivered at once, but certainly some. Have the boys keep their hand in with some Meteor T.7 practice in the meantime.